MOVIE REVIEW
Unknown (2011)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Liam Neeson continues his descent from leading-man respectability to run-of-the-mill action star in “Unknown,” a passable Hitchockian thriller. For a time, director Jaume Collet-Serra sustains the mystery at the picture’s core with a hint of vivid conspiratorial edge, but the movie builds up to a climax that makes one question whether it was ever worth the effort.
MOVIE REVIEW
The Reader (2008)
Melinda Sue Gordon/The Weinstein Company
Adapting any old book into a film isn't too difficult. Adapting a good book into a good film seems near impossible. Stephen Daldry's latest film, "The Reader," is no exception. Originally a sparse, straightforward and quietly brilliant book at 218 pages, the movie version of "The Reader" is over two hours long and advertises with the bombastic tagline: "Behind the mystery lies a truth that will make you question everything you know." It's a tall order; and while they certainly give it a shot, the film can't quite deliver.
MOVIE REVIEW
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Constantin Film
Bloody hell – that about sums up the life of a terrorist on the run, whether today or in post-war Germany. The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, orchestrated a reign of terror from the early 1970s to really not very long ago. Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtrau, the boyfriend in "Run Lola Run") liked to smash things up, while Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck, the heroine in "The Lives of Others") was the respected lefty journalist who crossed over into terrorism under the thrall of Baader and his girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek, the sensible friend in the under-appreciated "Aimee & Jaguar"), who provided the theoretical justification. These three very real people gave up their children and any semblance of a normal life so they could – and I find myself unable to sum up what they wanted to achieve in a polite little sentence. What they really wanted to do, under a whole heap of fancy justifications, was fuck shit up.
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